Lamborn to ditch SOTU as a protest

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who found himself in hot water last summer when he used the term “tar baby” as he referenced President Barack Obama, is skipping the State of the Union address, his office said Monday.

Lamborn’s staff said Monday he’s protesting Obama’s recent actions, including the appointments of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three new members of the National Labor Relations Board, which Republicans consider an overreach of executive power. He’s also objecting to Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline and cuts to defense spending, his office said.

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“Congressman Lamborn is doing this to send a clear message that he does not support the policies of Barack Obama, that they have hurt our country,” his spokeswoman, Catherine Mortensen, said in an email.

Lamborn was in the news last summer when he said in an interview that being associated with the president would be like “touching a tar baby” – an offensive term for African-Americans.

“I don’t even want to have to be associated with him,” Lamborn had said, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. “It’s like touching a tar baby, and you get it — you know, you’re stuck, and you’re part of the problem now, and you can’t get away.”

Lamborn subsequently wrote an apology to Obama, saying he was sorry for using a term “some find insensitive” and that he meant no offense by using the phrase.

His office notes that Lamborn has attended past State of the Union addresses, but this year, he believed Obama was “in full campaign mode and will use the address as an opportunity to bash his political opponents,” Mortensen said.

It appears Lamborn is the first Republican to publicly announce that he’ll not attend Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Lamborn said he’s not coordinating the snub with other lawmakers, and he’ll watch the address on television instead.